Meanwhile, several online campaigns have been spreading the word that the bill was in peril and gaining social media attention from around the world, leading people to flood individual senators’ voice mail and email inboxes with thousands of messages in support of the bill.

This morning, the Senate’s IT department sent out a notice warning that the extremely high volume of emails is causing long delays in sending or receiving other Senate emails.

The issue that has arisen in the committee’s work in recent weeks is about the need for aboriginal consultations. One section of the proposed legislation would amend The Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act to prohibit the import of a cetacean into Canada and the export of a cetacean from Canada. Andrew Burns, a lawyer for Marineland in Ontario, appeared before the committee in mid-May and argued the bill intrudes into issues of constitutionally protected Inuit rights, specifically around the sale of narwhal tusks and harvesting wildlife.

He said the park’s position is that the duty to consult with the Inuit had not been fulfilled.

Former Liberal Sen. Wilfred Moore, the original sponsor of the bill when it was introduced in 2015, told the committee in his opening remarks in late February that he was aware of concerns that the import and export restrictions of the bill were overly broad.

“With the current language they could potentially apply to dead scientific specimens or carved narwhal tusks going across the border. Such an application was certainly not my intention, so clause 4 could be amended to clarify that the restriction only applies to live cetaceans and reproductive materials that can be used in captive breeding,” he said.

More to the point, a statute — even if it did somehow prevent the export of carved narwhal tusks — could never override rights that are protected in the Constitution, as the rights of First Nations are. The courts also have found that Senate committees do not have a duty to hold aboriginal consultations.

At a June 8 meeting of the committee, Sen. Don Plett picked up where Marineland had left off and raised the issue of aboriginal consultations again. The Conservative whip has made no attempt to hide his support for Marineland and the Vancouver Aquarium at committee or on social media. Those are the only two facilities in Canada that have cetaceans in captivity — and both have lobbied hard against the proposed ban.

Plett said earlier this month that before the committee can go to a clause-by-clause review of the bill, members would have to have either the minister or the deputy minister of fisheries come before them and give members the political answers they’re looking for on the issue.

However, Committee Deputy Chair Elizabeth Hubley told iPolitics yesterday the government’s position should not be of concern to members of the committee.

“I don’t think the Senate should allow the government to make up our minds,” she said. “I don’t think it’s the Senate’s role to inquire of the government if this bill is going to please them or not. I think the evidence from world-renowned scientists has to carry some weight in this.

“This has to come to a resolution, but I think (the committee) has to do due diligence in coming to that conclusion. I think the Senate has an opportunity to support Canadian values through this bill and I certainly will support it all the way.”